With the Olympics ending this weekend (OH THANK GOD, I THOUGHT I’D DIE FROM LACK OF NEW DRAMA EPISODES) and one of the more exciting premiere weeks this year coming up next week (Arang and Faith are both heavily anticipated dramas with Five Fingers up there too), I took a detour into Haeundae Lovers. Whether or not I actually stay for the whole ride is a different story.

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Recently, I’ve had a sudden interest in watching Korean cable dramas because I found that they bear some semblance to the cable dramas that air here in the States. While strict laws set by the FCC have limited the stories that broadcast TV shows can make, they don’t apply to cable dramas where nudity is much more common and violence is much more common. While nothing like that has ever appeared on cable dramas in Korea (not that I’m an expert or anything), the quality of the storytelling is markedly better in cable shows. Also, they’re easier to digest because their running time is at least 15 minutes shorter than normal broadcast dramas (trust me, those 15 mins take up a lot of time!). As a result, the writing is usually tighter and there are less filler episodes. This year alone, I’ve watched three cable dramas that rank among my favorite of the year: Queen In Hyun’s Man, Shut Up Flower Boy Band, and I Need Romance 2. Last week, the new TVN drama Reply 1997 or Answer Me 1997 made its debut and I have to say I have very high hopes for this drama.

MBLAQ has been on a world tour, traveling to countries around the world meeting fans and performing for live audiences. The release of Cheondung “Thunder”‘s new song follows in the footsteps of previous releases from members G.O. and Mir. Now this is a surprise to me and I guess most people because Thunder isn’t really known as a good vocalist but I’ve noted his improvement since their debut and the company also took notice considering they’ve switched him from rapping to singing in MBLAQ’s latest songs. This new song adds dimension to Cheondung that he seriously needed to keep up with his more talented members.

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*I’ve been meaning to post this since I finished the bulk of it the day of the series finale. But unfortunately, my timing has never been my strong suit so here’s a long-ish essay on that series*

Duty. It’s a word that can mean different things depending on the context and the speaker. What stays the same, however, is that duty may represent the values of the speaker. That is not to say that people who work for the government or for the military have set their duties to honor or uphold either institution. Indeed, history has shown that people often misrepresent their true motives with the duties that they publicly espouse and follow. But despite that, the duties that people say they have are abstract values that determine their overall personhood and identities.

The question of personhood—how we identify ourselves—and the notion of duty are the two most important themes explored in the drama The King 2 Hearts. The drama, set in a modern-day fictional Korea where the country is led by a monarchy, engages the audience with difficult concepts not as readily accessible as duty, paraplegia, and identity as well as concepts that strike close to home for many viewers like nationality and Korean unification. All of these ideas are weaved into a storyline that, the poster and title of the series indicate, that centers on the romance between a hapless South Korean prince and a North Korean military girl. Lee Seung Gi plays the South Korean prince Lee Jae Ha who then becomes king while Ha Ji Won plays the North Korean soldier Kim Hang Ah.

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I apologize for the lack of posts this few weeks. The past two weeks have been the most hectic yet of my college life and I fear I’ll have more of those in the coming weeks. Nonetheless, if anything can break me away from my work, it will be BIG BANG, my favorite group ever. I’ve been counting down their comebacks, watched all their teasers, awed at the their majestic teaser photos, and pretty much waited with bated breath for their new music video.

It has been quite a hectic year full of change for the group and last year was both triumphant and tragic. Their triumphant comeback after a 2-year hiatus was cut short by the tragedies that befell both Daesung and G-Dragon. Nonetheless, it was revealed during interviews that those tragedies saved the group after all; had it not been for their difficult time, the group might have broken up.

Anyway, here they are with their new song and video from their new album, “Alive”.

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In lieu of a traditional “What I Like About” review of the incredibly unconventional “History of a Salaryman”, I’d like to present my ten favorite shots from the show’s first episode. The show is visually literal and there are plenty of shots (some of them extended shots) that make this show just gorgeous to look at, not to mention very very funny.

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Ah baseball. There is something so fascinating about the sport even when from time to time it meanders and bores. I enjoyed the sport growing up since my mom was an avid Yankees fan. I guess I caught the Yankee fever along with the rest of my siblings who watched the Yankees play multiple times. Every time we went there, thankfully the Yankees have won. While I am no devotee of the sport, I admire the players and am thoroughly entertained by the game when I do manage to catch it on the off chance I have nothing else better to do.

That said, there is something so intriguing about this comedy about baseball and romance. The poster above gives an indication of how goofy this show is going to be, what with the farcical expressions the lead characters have on and even the disastrous hairstyle both characters are sporting. Seriously, what the hell is on Lee Shi Young’s head? And why are they hiding Lee Dong Wook’s gorgeous face beneath all of that icky facial hair? Thankfully, the show itself is smart and fun, and the characters are quite hilarious.